The Ruger 10/22 has to be the most recognized 22 rifle known to man. The 10/22 has been in production for 5 decades with no indication of slowing down. During it’s long history there has been over 30 models produced by Ruger. It may also be one of the most modified rifles in US history right up there with the AR15. Rugers latest addition to this long lineage is the Ruger 10/22 Takedown better known as Ruger 10/22 TD released in March of 2012.

The 10/22-TD is a take-down version of the basic synthetic-stocked 10/22 Stainless Carbine. The Take-Down splits the barrel away from the receiver, allowing the owner to remove the barrel and receiver for easy transportation. The 22 caliber is often the center of many debates around it’s capability as a survival caliber but it is evident to me Ruger believes in its ability, by packaging it in a nice padded soft nylon case.

According to Ruger this nylon Bug-Out bag will float for a some period of time with the gun safely housed inside depending on what other materials you may have packed inside. I wasn’t willing to test this theory with such a nice 22 and case, I will take Ruger’s word for it this time. The Bug-Out bag has many compartments for housing additional Ruger BX25 magazines, first aid kits, a lot of ammo and any other accessories you may need for the average plinking day on the range or for a bug-out survival type of scenario.

The 10/22TD case will support a receiver with a scope attached but it will have to be one that’s relatively short in length or perhaps one with detachable scope rings. I found a 4x Leupold FX-1 fits nice an snug, on the factory provided scope base. I believe there was a packaging mistake with this particular one I received as there were two factory scope bases provided in the bag.

Though I mounted a scope on this rifle right away it comes with a very nice set of iron sights. The rear sight is adjustable for both windage and elevation.

The front sight is a very nice gold bead, which makes for quick sight alignment and sight picture as well as target acquisition.

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The 10/22 Takedown is a bit more than just another variation of an existing rifle. It’s a 10/22 sure enough, but it’s altogether different from but much of the same as the millions of 10/22s that have preceded it. Standing in the rifle rack next to all of the other 10/22’s one might walk past this model not giving it much of a second look. Looking closely you will find the forend gap, which separates the receiver and barrel. The obvious difference is the recessed lever in the bottom of the fore-end, just forward of the gap.

This lever is the critical component in disassembly and reassembly of the 10/22 Takedown. The take down procedure consist of making sure the gun is safe, removing the magazine, racking the bolt to the rear and pulling the take down lever while twisting the barrel and puling it away from the receiver. On assembly loosen the takedown adjustment ring by turning it clockwise as far as possible, insert the barrel assembly and turn it clockwise until it locks (approximately a quarter-turn), tighten the adjustment ring by turning it counterclockwise as far as possible with finger pressure. The system is similar to but not exactly like that of the Browning takedown who are the originators of this design. In the manual Ruger recommends cycling the bolt two to three times to ensure everything is properly seated. Though I did not have any problems with this one after about 600 rounds of firing I feel it is worth mentioning that Rugers QA process seemed to allow some barrels to leave the factory without the proper heat treating. You can tell if this will be a problem through visual inspection. The end of the barrel should carry a blue like color ring around the barrel.

Those without the heat treatment will not have this color pattern and will eventually lead to peening of the end of the barrel. Though there have been few cases reported Rugers customer service has been top notch in taking care of the customer and replacing the barrel. The takedown concept has been a topic of many debates mainly around the long term accuracy of repeated assembly and disassembly. I have seen many Brownings with thousands of rounds through them still providing a lot of fun while maintaining their accuracy throughout the years. I know believe the Ruger 10/22 Takedown will provide the same. I have enjoyed testing this rifle over the past couple of months with many different brands of ammunition and the function has been flawless.

Range Time

My first time on the range my son and I put 200 rounds of Remington 22LR ammo through it for break in. This took a little longer than expected due to Ruger only providing one 10 round rotary magazine.

At the end of the session I fired 5 shots of each brand of ammunition I had on hand, Remington, Wolf Match Target, CCI-SV and Federal Blue Box.

The rifle loved the Wolf Match Target the center group represents the 5 shots fired. The bottom left group on the target represents CCI-SV, the top left group represent Remington all three groups provided decent accuracy at 50 yards. What amazed me most was the horrible performance of the Federal Blue Box (510). The top right group was the first shot with the Federal ammunition, amazed at the shotgun like pattern. I fired a second group, bottom right of the same ammo, which yielded the same results. Bottom line the Ruger 10/22 Takedown does not like Federal Blue Box (510) for some reason.

My son and I really enjoyed the time on the range together but knew right away there were many more trips in our future with this gem of a rifle. The 10/22 Takedown exhibited better accuracy for me than many standard versions I have shot and this may have been due to the trigger when measured came right in at 4 pounds on the RCBS trigger gauge. This test was performed with 22LR snap gaps, though some manufacturers manuals do state it is ok to dry fire I come from the old school of never dry firing a rimfire.

On my last outing with the Ruger 10/22 Takedown due to 30 degree weather I visited an indoor range with many different brands of ammunition and fired groupings from my sandbags at 50 yards. Between each 5 shot group I disassembled and reassembled the rifle, I also fired 10 fouling shots of each brand of ammo before firing for accuracy groupings. The 10/22 Takedown performed very well, I believe this is a good indication of how repeatable the 10/22 Takedown will be.

The takedown concept has been around for quite sometime, so this is nothing new though it is Ruger first venture into the takedown concept and IMHO Ruger has done an outstanding job. Releasing a takedown version of the 10/22 during a time when just about everyone is talking about survival, bug-out and SHTF type situations will surely please many. Especially those like myself whom have never owned a 10/22 before and is looking for an easy back packable rifle. If utilized in duress type of situation the backpack is a turn off for me with the large Ruger logo embossed on it, as I would not want anyone to know there was a rifle in my backpack. This can be easily resolved with one of Mr. Skinners Scabbards http://www.skinnersights.com/scabbards_20.html which may not be as roomy as the Ruger case but provides a different level of concealment, just another option.

The Ruger 10/22 Takedown is about half the price of the Browning and with a little help from the you the user base making a request — Darrel just may loan me his for a head to head comparison.

4 Comments on "Ruger 10/22 Take Down Range Review"

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One thing that would have been interesting would be a test of accuracy after being taken down and put together again — say a 10-shot group, with the barrel being removed and replaced after each shot in the group. I say that because I have a Stevens Favorite, which is a takedown with a tang sight, and it needs to be re-zeroed each time it’s taken down.

Per the review on my last test I disassembled and reassembled the rifle after each 5 shot group and it did not require a re-zero.

“On my last outing with the Ruger 10/22 Takedown due to 30 degree weather I visited an indoor range with many different brands of ammunition and fired groupings from my sandbags at 50 yards. Between each 5 shot group I disassembled and reassembled the rifle,”

I have a 10/22 TD set up with a Leopold VX1 2-7×28 scope, UTG QD rings, and the Weaver Picatinny rail. This was the shortest scope in my toy box that I could put on this rifle, and it definitely will not fit in the Ruger case with the barrel without removing the scope. But this then introduces two points of variability on reassembly. BTW my trigger pull is more like 7-8 pounds, and is rough, like all of my past 10/22s. I have about 200 rounds through this so far.

I ran several tests on accuracy using a table with sandbag rests at 25 yard targets. My rifle preferred the CCI Stinger 32g HP rounds (about .5″ group, 1″ above the MiniMags). CCI MinMags came in at about .75″ (my primary zero point), and Western 36g HP were sloppy at 2″ and about .75″ lower (and very dirty).

When removing/replacing the barrel (with my method of tightening), each change caused the reference MiniMags to move L-R about 1″. No elevation change. The removal/replacement of the scope didn’t change the POI but the group size opened up to 1″. Very odd – need more tests with tighter QD screw settings.

If I set the barrel tension according to the manual, changing it randomly moved my groups L-R about 8″ and U-D maybe 4″. Instead, I found that I needed to tighten the ring to where it was difficult to seat the barrel fully. Now it is down to a 1″ shift L-R.

I also found that the first round out of every mag reload was a flyer – as much as 2″ in any direction. So I would fire the first into the dirt, then the 9 at the target. All of my groups were 9 rounds. I used 1 Ruger 10 round mag in this experiment.
I also installed the Ruger Picatinny rail/barrel clamp and have a light on it. I found that it I held onto the clamp it moved the POI left about 1″ (tested before I found out how to adjust the barrel ring).

One reason I bought this is how easy it is now to clean compared to my other old 10/22. Well, that’s what I told my wife……..